New Guinea Patrol DPR/TV/550

Troops of the Pacific Islands Regiment have no need for artificial hazards to be written into their training programme. The natural jungle of Papua/ New Guinea and the fast-flowing, crocodile infested streams, provide adequate realism for the professional native soldiers to test their skills. In a typial patrol recently, troops were flown to the Nomad River in the Western District of Papua, to begin a 60 mile trek further west to Kiunga. Patrols are constantly moving through the dense jungles, bringing contact with tribes in some of the most inaccessible areas of the Territory. It would be two weeks before this patrol reached its destination - two weeks of slogging through rain forest, of rafting across swollen rivers, and pioneering a track through unihabited country. At remote Bebilubi Village, hunters of another era welcomed the rarely seen face of a white man. Through a police interpreter, Lieutenant Kevin McTaggart of Manly Brisbane, the patrol commander, receives information on local terrain and conditions from the village chief. As well as training the PIR soldier in his operational role, the patrols gather topographical data for mapping and establish friendly relations with the native tribes.